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Randolph-Macon, Virginia Wesleyan and Guilford round out top-three picks SALEM, VA (October 25, 2008) - With four new head coaches set to peruse the sidelines during the 2008-2009 basketball season, this year's annual ODAC Men's Basketball Media Day served as a standard meet and greet session. The respective hardwood rosters of ODAC schools also follow the "Who's Who" trend, as graduation stripped the services of a handful of all-conference performers and household names across the league from one year ago. Amidst all the change and novelty, Hampden-Sydney's newest pride of Tigers settled into the fourth position in the 2008-2009 Old Dominion Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Preseason Coaches Poll. Randolph-Macon, ranked No. 14 in the D3hoops.com preseason top-25, claimed the conference's top spot with 10 of 11 possible first place votes. Virginia Wesleyan, ranked 22nd by D3hoops.com, followed in second place with one first place vote while defending ODAC champion Guilford College checked in at third. The Tigers enter the season with plenty of anticipation and excitement surrounding the program. New head coach Dee Vick, a 1994 graduate of the College who starred as a player and assistant coach for Hampden-Sydney, has returned to lead a team that boasts a good amount of experienced leadership. Vick will share the coaching load with a talented pair of assistants; Larry Blunt, who comes to Hampden-Sydney from Division II Shaw University and Austin Shaver, son of H-SC Hall of Fame mentor Tony Shaver and 2007 graduate of the University of Virginia. Hampden-Sydney senior point guard Byron Lawton and junior shooting guard Turner King have been tabbed to lead the latest Tiger hoops squad as captains. Lawton has played in every game since setting foot onto campus as a freshman in 2005-2006. His experience and work ethic are tremendous assets to Vick's troops, and Lawton hopes to improve on his eye-catching assist numbers from a year ago, when he ranked second in the league with 122 helpers. 2007-2008 first team All-ODAC selection King returns for his junior season needing just 135 points to eclipse 1,000 points for his career. Last season, King ranked third in the conference in scoring at over 19 points-per-game and was also one of the team's top rebounders. Hampden-Sydney opens the season in the friendly confines of S. Douglas Fleet Gymnasium on Saturday, November 15 when it hosts NAIA affiliate Voorhees College out of South Carolina. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 pm, about an hour after the conclusion of the Hampden-Sydney/Randolph-Macon football game at Lewis C. Everett Stadium. The entire 2008-2009 ODAC Men's Basketball Preseason Coaches Poll is below.
2008-2009 ODAC Men's Basketball Preseason Coaches Poll -www.hsc.edu/athletics- |
